Album review: Arctic Monkeys’ ‘AM’ goes full circle

English indie band Arctic Monkeys returns to the airwaves with its familiar sound and always interesting song lyrics.

“AM,” the band’s fifth studio album, released Monday in the U.S., two years after its last album, “Suck It and See.”

The album starts out strong with “Do I Wanna Know?” With a sensual melody matching the song’s narrative of a person’s confession about not being able to fall out of love with someone, the heavy bass and guitar lines are played at a slow beat.

The album continues this heavy-rock tone until the album’s sixth track, “No. 1 Party Anthem.” Replaced with a piano melody accompanied by a light drum beat, the song sounds like a power ballad from the 1970s.

Don’t let the genre fool you, though. The song is more than just a ballad. With lyrics like, “Lights in the floors and sweat on the walls / Cages and poles,” and “She’s a certified mind blower, knowing full well that I don’t,” this is clearly not a song to play for the missus.

The album ends with “I Wanna Be Yours,” seeming like the sequel to the first track. This track is less sensual and more heartfelt, fitting with the song’s narrative of how the person wants to be with the other.

In the last track, the lyrics “Secrets I have held in my heart / Are harder to hide than I thought / Maybe I just wanna be yours,” completes the narrator’s realization from earlier, stated in “Do I Wanna Know?” with the lyrics “Maybe I’m too busy being yours to fall for somebody new / Now I’ve thought it through.”

Overall, Arctic Monkeys hasn’t lost its touch in the rock genre, especially at a time where bands like The Black Keys and Imagine Dragons populate rock playlists.

One comment

This album was uninspiring and generic when you look at their back catalog.

I’m glad you mentioned the Black Keys, because a handful of the songs sound like the Black Keys at their most boring. And that’s saying a lot, because the Black Keys already heavily borrow from everything-else-blues.